


Chestnuts and Ash

by Gabubu



Series: Fabulous Bending Brothers: Family, Malady, and the Aftermath [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Bending, Childhood, Curiousity, Family, Fire, Gen, Makocentric, New Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-26
Updated: 2012-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-15 02:05:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabubu/pseuds/Gabubu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako discovers he can bend with help from his parents and a chestnut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chestnuts and Ash

**Author's Note:**

> Mako is 4; Bolin is 2.

The sun stretched that morning, rays striking along the gray sky- dawn's departure groggy and slow, clinging to the sky and marking it unblue. But the sun rose, and it slowly and powerfully elongated its influence on light. Dew clung to surfaces- the stone grounds of the city slick. Mist danced in the distance, obscuring. A tall, thin boy- ruffled from sleep- dragged across the home from his bed toward the airy coolness from the outside. He sleepily noticed a series of sacks blocking the exit and approached them as curiosity awakened him. 

The biggest bag contained rice. The middle ones held a haphazard collection of fruit and vegetables: mandarins and green onions co-mingling. A small bag caught his attention: it was small and he found it easy to carry, if a bit heavy. He fiddled with the tie until it gave, and stuck his hand inside. Chestnuts.

His mother's heavy red robe trailing behind her- a shield against the cold of a new year's season- as she approached the fireplace in the corner. In her hand lay a clay pan evenly layered in wrinkled and puckered shelled chestnuts- the outer hull pried forcefully from the soft nuts by the strong hands of his father. But the delicious inside lay captive in a layer of a papery inner shell- something the flame from his mother's fingers on the wood would roast to a crackly, easily crumbling state.

Mako grasped a deeply colored nut- nearly the same color as his papa's favorite boots. He took it and tried to break it, trying to use the power in his fingers like he'd seen nearly a year prior. But his fingers were delicate and long, not burgeoning with power or inexplicable finger muscles. And they were small, so small they fit comfortably around the a single aforementioned finger. But they were big enough to dwarf his brother's- he was only a baby.

The nut's wall would not crack or give. But he wanted the sweet, gentle taste of softened chestnuts in their sugarcane nectar, sticky-ing his hands and face. So he walked to the fireplace, stubborn snack in hand. He touched the flaky remnants of a fire: croaking black stalks and gray sand. He at least needed the papery part taken care of, so he placed the chestnut on top of a pile of the gray sand he made himself. 

He touched the sand with blackened hands, waiting for a fire to burst into life. Nothing happened. Now annoyed: the hull wouldn't budge and now he couldn't even get the fire going. He touched the sand differently, trying different sides and different sizes of ash mounds. Thoroughly angered, he screamed at the fireplace and the unyielding walnut, pointing at it in rage. An acrid scent exploded, as black smoke rose from the burning chestnut.

**Author's Note:**

> This took weirdly forever to write. I had to ponder something for Mako for a long time, since I don't love him very much and showing him being cute was weird. Then I thought "roasted chestnuts! I'm a genius." but it turned out the steps for that were too convoluted and overly westernized, since the Avatarverse is very Asian/Eastern. So then I almost scrapped this altogether before I found a Japanese recipe with chestnuts that would make sense.Then to top it off, I've never had pure chestnuts or in the Japanese recipe way, so I had to google that too. Good thing the recipe talked about their flavor. Good thing. Then I had to figure out a way for Mako to get pissed off and for his rage to ignite the chestnut without portraying him in a negative light. I don't like him very much at all. But I did it! Wooh!
> 
> The next part of this series could be more family stuff/childhood stuff. I don't have any material before the tragedy hits and the aftermath of it written yet, so the next part depends on my level of laziness. 
> 
> Also, does Mako even act like he's 4 here? I feel like maybe he doesn't? Augh.


End file.
